The GBI has identified a man who was shot and killed by police in DeKalb County after they say he lunged at officers with a knife Monday evening outside a vacant home.
Matthew Williams, 35, died after he was shot during multiple confrontations with police in the area of the Terraces Apartments in Decatur, GBI spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said in a news release. Williams had two separate encounters with DeKalb officers that resulted in shots being fired, Ammons said, but investigators are not sure when he was hit and injured.
Williams’ body was discovered inside an apartment after a SWAT team searched the unit, according to DeKalb police. The GBI was called in overnight, marking the second time in less than 24 hours the agency was asked to investigate a shooting involving Georgia officers.
The standoff began about 4 p.m. Monday after DeKalb police got a call about a man “aggressively wielding a knife” in a neighborhood off Snapfinger Woods Drive, a police spokeswoman said in a statement. They spotted Williams standing outside in the 2500 block of Terrace Trail.
“Once contact was made, he lunged at officers with the knife causing one of them to discharge their firearm,” DeKalb police spokeswoman Michaela Vincent said. “It was unknown if the male was struck at this time as he fled into a vacant residence.”
They tried to make contact with him and he lunged again, “causing an officer to discharge his firearm,” she said. Williams went back inside the vacant house, where he was discovered dead later.
A neighbor told Channel 2 Action News that he watched the suspect run and jump into a window at the Terrace Trails building, then heard several gunshots.
“I seen a young man running from the police, he jumped on the rooftop, kicked in the window and kicked the window a couple of times and he jumped through the window,” Jason Neil said.
No officers were injured during the incident, according to the GBI.
Early Monday morning, the GBI investigated its 20th officer-involved shooting this year after three Georgia officers were shot during a police chase in Carroll County. Officers returned fire, killing one man. A second suspect was taken into custody.
A Carroll County sheriff’s deputy, a Carrollton police sergeant and a Villa Rica police officer were all recovering Tuesday.
According to Ammons, the GBI is investigating another shooting involving police that took place Monday in northeast Georgia, taking the count to 21. Details of that shooting have not been released.
The DeKalb incident is the 22nd officer-involved shooting for the GBI and the 10th to result in death. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
